A shot of cash can help save our depleted natural capital

Abstract

In 2012, Sir David Attenborough, reflecting on 60 years of natural history film making, said: "For me, as for countless others, the natural world is the greatest of all treasures. And yet, in my lifetime, we have damaged it more severely than in the whole of human history." Attenborough's observations apply wherever human activity is focused on extracting and maximising economic benefit from the natural world. However, relatively few of these activities are ecologically sustainable, and even in our country we have a legacy of ongoing habitat destruction. The natural capital that we deplete today provides fewer choices for future generations, as ecosystems become more disturbed, less biodiverse, less resilient, and more vulnerable. That is why the Government's announcement of $140 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) for the West Coast transition from coal is far-sighted.